Bagpipes are made in a variety of shapes and sizes. The basic form of a bagpipe includes a chanter, usually equipped with a reed and having up to eight finger holes allowing a melody to be played; an airtight bag; a blowpipe, also known as a blowstick, which is usually equipped with a one-way valve, through which the player blows air into the bag; and one or more drone pipes extending from the bag, each drone pipe fitted with a reed that produces a tuned sound to harmonize with the melody produced by the chanter.
Traditionally, bagpipe reeds have been made from natural materials, such as cane or bamboo, but more recently synthetic reeds have been produced from materials such as plastics, wood, composites, polymers, and light alloy metals such as aluminum and brass. The basic form of a bagpipe drone reed is a hollow tube body, sealed at one end and open at the other end, with a bleed aperture passing through the wall of the tube. A tongue is attached at one end to the body, with the free end of the tongue extending over the bleed aperture and free to vibrate in response to air flow through the bleed aperture. The effective length of the tongue may be altered by moving a bridle along the length of the body of the reed, altering the length of the portion of the tongue that is free to vibrate in response to air flow through the bleed aperture. The bridle is typically a loop or ring of material, such as a loop of cord, rubber, or a rubber O-ring, that snugly encircles the body of the reed and the tongue. Shortening the effective length of the tongue raises the pitch of the reed, while increasing the effective length of the tongue lowers the pitch of the reed. The reed may further include a pitch adjuster at the sealed end to allow for additional tuning to bring the reed optimally in tune with the instrument.
To enable vibration of the tongue, there must be a space or gap between the underside of the tongue and the upper edges of the bleed aperture. This may be provided by a curvature in the tongue, in a portion of the reed body underlying the tongue, or in both the tongue and in a portion of the reed body underlying the tongue. The distance between the underside of the tongue and the upper edges of the bleed aperture determines the amount of air consumed by the reed. Individual players have different airflow requirements, with some players requiring what is referred to as soft reed allowing relatively low airflow and other players requiring what is referred to a hard reed allowing relatively high airflow. It is desirable that the airflow of the reed be adjustable to allow for optimization of the reed for individual players. Typically the gap between the tongue and reed body would range between about 0.2 mm and about 0.5 mm, depending on the reed and material of the tongue. The stiffer the tongue material, the smaller the gap required for the same amount of airflow into the reed.
GB2394593 discloses a reed body having a screw that can be used to adjust the curvature of the body of the reed and the divergence from the tongue and the reed body, thereby determining the pitch of the reed. Curving the body of the reed allows the airflow to be adjusted while simultaneously adjusting the pitch of the sound produced by the reed. GB2341968 discloses a reed body comprising one or a pair of bleed orifices, each orifice covered by a tongue, wherein each tongue is curved away from the body of the reed, or the tongue is planar and the reed body is machined to introduce a gap between the tongue and the reed body. Further, the tongue(s) on this reed are reversible allowing them to be used in either the traditional orientation with the tongue secured to the reed body towards the end of the reed body that is closest to the drone or in the inverted orientation, with the free end of the tongue towards the end of the reed body that is closest to the drone. Inverted reeds are thought to have better strike-in than traditionally oriented reeds and may have slightly different sound quality than traditionally oriented reeds. Neither of these designs allows the airflow of the reed to be adjusted independent of the pitch, making it challenging to adjust the reed to match the airflow requirements of the player and the pitch requirements of the instrument.
Another reed design is set forth in DE202004018696. In this design, the tongue is secured to the reed body by a pair of screws and the curvature of the tongue is adjustable by exerting or reducing pressure on a leaf spring overlying the tongue by tightening or loosening one of the screws. This allows for the airflow of the reed to be adjusted independent of pitch, but precludes use of the tongue in the traditional orientation.
While each of the bagpipe reeds discussed above is suitable for its intended purpose, there remains a desire in the art for a bagpipe reed with adjustable airflow that is simply adjusted and readily tunable.